Sgarbossa flying high in AHL

As Ontario Hockey League scoring champion last season, Michael Sgarbossa had a guaranteed spot awaiting him in Sudbury.

Such a safety net has no doubt been a major source of comfort to many over-age junior stars when first attempting to crack the professional ranks.

Not so for the 20-year-old Campbellville centre.

“I didn’t want to go back to junior just because I could,” stressed Sgarbossa, recalling his mindset during training camp with the American Hockey League’s Lake Erie Monsters (Cleveland-based farm team of Colorado Avalanche). “My mindset was that I was going to make this team. I didn’t want to think about junior. I felt I needed to move up a level now. I wanted to show that I belonged here (AHL).”

With that in mind, the past month can be summed up in two words.

Mission accomplished.

Earning a regular spot in the Monsters’ lineup has been the least of Sgarbossa’s accomplishments this fall.

With 13 AHL games now under his belt, the former OHL star is averaging a point a game and sits tied for seventh in the league scoring race with six goals and seven assists. That puts him atop Lake Erie scoring, and second among AHL rookies.

As if that wasn’t enough to put him in the Monsters coaching staff’s good graces, Sgarbossa is quickly proving his dependability in the shoot-out as well.

Although he missed his latest attempt last night against Texas, the local AHL freshman made good on a top-corner wrister to help beat Houston Friday. This marked his third straight shoot-out deposit, the first coming on a highlight-reel fake late last month versus Abbotford.

“It’s something I’d worked on in junior and the coach felt OK letting me try it,” said Sgarbossa of the wow-factor forehand-to-backhand-forehand deke he compares to that of Pavel Datsyuk. “I’m pretty use to being in the shootout by now, so I really haven’t been too nervous being called up (for Lake Erie). You just have to trust yourself and execute.”

He did quite a bit of that this weekend.

Along with his shootout goal, Sgarbossa tallied twice in regulation to earn first-star honours — for the second time this season — in Friday’s 5-4 win over Houston. Last night he had third-period goal, an assist and finished at a plus-3 as the Monsters beat Texas by an identical score.

Of course it’s not all about offence for Milton’s newest AHLer.

While he’ll likely never be expected to be a shutdown anchor, Sgarbossa has seen a fair amount of time on the penalty kill so far, and feels he hasn’t looked out of place in his own end.

“I was playing against other teams’ top lines a lot in the OHL, and I don’t think my defence is that much of an issue,” said Lake Erie’s second line centre, considered one of major-juniors best puck handlers and playmakers last year. “Keep the puck between you and your opponent, that’s the best defence as I see it.”

Though recognizing how much more physical the AHL would be, Sgarbossa was wary about putting on too much weight this past summer — feeling that could hinder his biggest weapon, speed.

“You don’t want to just put on weight unnecessarily. It’s more about me just growing into my body, not getting bigger. I’m not getting pushed around out there, so that’s the important thing. And it’s so much faster here than in junior. There’s not as much time to react and opponents capitalize on turnovers so much more at this level. You can maybe get away with turning the puck over on the blueline once, but not twice.”

While clearing the initial pro hockey hurdle, Sgarbossa knows there’s still plenty of work to be done if he wants to continue his early AHL success — and put himself on Colorado’s radar.

“I’ve just got to keep being consistent and keep improving. I’m happy with the way I’ve started the year, but it’s all about the present, not the past.”